DOT issues permit for private bus service for Foxwoods workers

The state Department of Transportation has issued a permit for a private charter bus service aimed at replacing employee shuttles formerly run by Foxwoods Resort Casino.

JAMES MOSHER

The state Department of Transportation has issued a permit for a private charter bus service aimed at replacing employee shuttles formerly run by Foxwoods Resort Casino.

The permit was issued Dec. 4 to New York-based Da Sheng Travel Inc. by Dennis King, manager of the DOT’s regulatory and compliance unit. John Wong, a Montville activist who is partnering with Da Sheng, filed for the permit on July 18.

Wong has been working to re-establish bus service from Norwich to Foxwoods since the casino ceased its off-site employee shuttles on Feb. 29. The new service would carry ordinary citizens as well as casino employees to Foxwoods, he said.

“I’m tickled to death,” Wong said Friday. “But there’s still a lot more work to do.”

The activist is looking to re-establish inexpensive transportation for Norwich-area, moderate-income casino workers, many of whom are Asian and black. The Norwich branch of the NAACP wrote a letter supporting the permit, Wong said. Norwich NAACP President Jacqueline Owens couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Chief among the tasks remaining is to receive approval from Foxwoods. Wong said he plans to call Bill Satti, spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods, to arrange a meeting.

“Foxwoods has no information regarding a DOT permit,” casino spokeswoman Dale Wolbrink wrote in an email Friday.

Foxwoods representatives have said previously they would consider alternative transportation ideas as long as they pass insurance and safety tests.

King couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Beginning the charter on the one-year anniversary of the end of the Foxwoods service is Wong’s goal, but he said it might not be possible to achieve it.

“I was so happy to get the permit that I almost forgot about all the other stuff,” he said.

Wong said he plans to call Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom and ask about using the Norwich Transportation Center for an opening ceremony. The center may be one of two or three stops in Norwich on the way to Foxwoods, Wong said.

Da Sheng still needs to buy or lease two buses that would have pass DOT inspection, Wong said. The company also needs to establish a Connecticut office. It would like to establish an office in Norwich, said Wong, 81, who is president of the Uncasville-based Chinese & American Cultural Assistance Association.

The service would operate around the clock and charge a $4 round-trip fare, Wong said. At least 800 to 1,000 passengers per day will be required to cover costs, including $30,000 a year in insurance and $2,500 a month for bus parking, he said.

The permit was issued shortly after a meeting with state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker, Wong said.

“He really sped things up, I think,” Wong said.

The charter will not be serving Mohegan Sun because that casino already has a Norwich bus provided by Southeast Area Transit District, New London County’s public bus company, Wong said.

SEAT considered establishing a Norwich-to-Foxwoods line, but the idea was abandoned when the casino declined to subsidize it.